Minimal breast carcinoma

Fifty-three patients with intraductal and microinvasive carcinoma of the breast were analyzed. Comparison of two groups of patients, one treated before 1969 and the other since, revealed a decrease in the mean age from 50 to 44 years, an increase in the annual rate from 0.6 to 5.0 percent and an increase in bilateral disease from 0 to 40 percent. The study also showed that patients with microinvasive disease (invasion up to 0.5 cm) had the same excellent prognosis as those with intraductal cancer. The results of this study suggest that (1) simultaneous random mirror-image biopsies of the contralateral breast should be performed with intraductal cancer of the breast, and (2) total mastectomy with lymph node sampling is the maximal treatment necessary in both intraductal and microinvasive cancer of the breast.